2010 Chevrolet Camaro Project Car Fuel System - Feeding The Animal

Our 2010 Project Car Gets A Trick Fuel System To Feed Its New Stroker

Last month we spun a tale of woe in regards to our '10 Camaro project car's blown LS3 engine. As you'll recall, the factory fuel pump hit its limit somewhere over the 500 rear-wheel horsepower level and left our Magnacharged mill with tons of air and very little fuel. The resulting lean condition ate our rings and gave us an excuse to punch the LS3 out to 416 cubes. Of course, this meant that our already inadequate fuel system was even more underpowered. Enter ADM Performance. Andy Mages has been upping '10 SS power and encountering these same fuel supply dilemmas. He came up with a whole new fuel system in response. As Andy explains, "Our performance dual fuel-pump system was designed with 100 percent OEM parts to ensure the original equipment integrity. In the standard OEM configuration, it's capable of providing enough fuel to support over 800 hp and it can even be modified to handle up to 1,000 hp."

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The system utilizes a '10 Cadillac CTS-V dual fuel-pump module, a larger GM crossover line, a new fuel level sensor module, and a pre-programmed fuel control module. Since this system sucks more juice from the electrical system, ADM also includes new heavy-duty wiring along with a 50-amp wiring harness, fuse holder, and MIL-spec mounting hardware.

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Changing out the parts isn't rocket science, but getting to the fuel pump on a '10 Camaro is a bit of a pain. We're sure the placement of the saddle tank makes sense from a safety and weight distribution standpoint, but it's a royal pain in terms of serviceability. But we need our engine to be well-fed, so we picked up a kit from ADM and headed over to Don Lee Auto in Rancho Cucamonga, California, for a little wrench time.

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2010 Chevrolet Camaro Project Car Fuel System - Feeding The Animal

Like its cousin the Corvette, the Camaro utilizes a saddle tank to hold fuel. Good for performance, but a real pain to service. The only way to get to the fuel pump is to drop the tank, and the only way to drop the tank is to remove the entire IRS and exhaust systems.

Dropping the IRS isn't as bad as you might think. We removed the calipers without disconnecting them, so we didn't even have to re-bleed the brakes. We also disconnected the parking brake cables.

The IRS assembly is held to the car via four bolts. We removed these bolts, disconnected the shocks, unplugged a couple of wiring harnesses, and lowered the entire unit. Total time to get this done was about an hour and a half.

Before dropping the tank, we went ahead and removed the evap/charcoal canister by unplugging it and unscrewing the two 10mm bolts holding it in place.

With that done, we disconnected the fuel filler hose, evap lines, and the rest of the wiring harness connectors on the tank. Fuel weighs about 6 pounds per gallon, so this is best done with a nearly empty tank.

It turned out a tranny jack was perfect for lowering the tank from the car. Even though a lift makes this job much easier, it can be done with a couple of floor jacks and an extra set of hands.

With the tank out of the car, we were then able to see the fuel sender unit (A) and the fuel pump module (B). We shudder to think what the dealership charges for an out-of-warranty fuel-pump replacement.

The high-output fuel system from ADM performance came with everything needed to perform the upgrade. This isn't some sort of Band Aid deal-it's a whole new system that even includes heavier-gauge wiring to handle the increased electrical load. The OEM-quality kit included a new fuel pump module, sending unit, computer, and all the wiring and connectors for $1,395.00.

We emptied the trunk and disconnected the battery before starting on the wiring.

Moving to the interior of the Camaro, we pulled the rear seat to access the wiring and the stock Fuel Pump Control Module (FPCM).

The new ADM plug came with new 10-gauge power and ground wires to handle the extra load of the pump. These wires were run back to the fuse block and then the battery.

After carefully following the instructions, we had all the new wires installed on the plug. With that done, we attached the new FPCM to the panel and plugged in the harness. It's important that the new FPCM is located in just the right spot so that the interior trim panel will go back in place. Again, the placement is clearly explained in the instructions from ADM.

With the interior wiring done, we moved back to the fuel tank where we removed the stock fuel pump module.

We then unplugged the harness from the FPCM and removed about 12 inches of the electrical tape covering the wires. The old plug was ditched in favor of a new one supplied by ADM.

We then unplugged the harness from the FPCM and removed about 12 inches of the electrical tape covering the wires. The old plug was ditched in favor of a new one supplied by ADM.

It was easy to see the fuel inlet on the new pump was quite a bit larger than the stocker on the left.

With everything out, we then inserted the new, larger, crossover fuel line. We were then able to install and connect the new sending unit and the higher-volume fuel pump module.

And with that, our tank modifications were done.

One last bit of wiring that needed to be done was modifying the right side fuel pump connector. This is what it should look like when finished.

Finally, we reinstalled the tank, connected the fuel fill hose, plugged in the wires, and put the evap/charcoal canister back in place. Total time from start to finish, including removing and replacing the IRS and exhaust, was about six hours and only common hand tools were needed to get it done. Once we hit the road in our 600-plus hp '10 Camaro, we'll be able to confidently abuse the throttle knowing that our fuel system will be up to the task.

We then removed the stock sending unit and crossover fuel line located inside the tank.

The existing fuel line needed to be modified in order to attach it to the new fuel pump module. Following the instructions, we cut the line and attached it to the pump. We also put a small hose clamp on the line as an extra safety measure.

The most obvious choice was to replace the subframe bushings with this Hyper-Flex kit (PN 3.4169, $218) from Energy Suspension.

We're sure they make a specific tool for this, but we didn't have one, so we fashioned our own from some all-thread and the proper-sized washers. We've also heard that an air hammer and various other tools can get the job done.

With the old bushings out, the new ones simply slid in place.

Since we had the front subframe dropped to do the engine rebuild, we went ahead and replaced the control-arm bushings as well with their kit (PN 3.3195, $112). Again, the poly pieces will better resist distorting under heavy load and give us more precise handling. Energy also offers kits for the rear control arms and sway bars.

And here's one of the large subframe bushings fully installed in the car. If the red is too bright, they offer the bushings in black as well.

We also decided to replace the bushings that hold the differential in place with more polyurethane goodness. This differential carrier bushing kit (PN 3.1153, $35) should help eliminate some of the lateral movement we've been experiencing under hard acceleration. As with all bushings, the hardest thing was getting the factory parts out. After that, sliding in the new parts was easy.

Will Dugas is one cool customer. Women want to be with him. Men want to be him. Read about how he goes about wheeling his 2012 Cadillac CTS-V down the track and you’ll know why. You’d think that manhandling a 9-second machine would be a fist-clenching, harness-tightening affair, but not for Will. » Read More